ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the choices people make in designing and facilitating tinkering activities to meet these learning dimensions. The Big Idea Is Their Idea: this phrase sums up connection to constructionist pedagogy. Seymour Papert coined this phrase which asserts that understanding is actively constructed in the mind of the learner through the construction of a physical artifact, a fundamental tenet of what do in the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Tinkering Studio experiences are designed to encourage learners to complexify their thinking over time. Through a 2-year-long process, in collaboration with Visitor Research and Engagement (VRE) group, identified four broad Dimensions of Learning along with Learning Indicators based on observable behaviors were able to recognize in tinkering activities: Engagement; Initiative and Intentionality; Social Scaffolding; and Development of Understanding. Personal expression can be seen as frivolous and inconsequential, simply decoration on top of a STEM-based activity.
